Slack Birthday Bot Comparison
Should you pick BirthdayBot or Billy?
A clear look at how the two Slack birthday bots compare on pricing, features, and scale.
9 min read
The short answer
Winner for most teams: BirthdayBot
BirthdayBot is the stronger choice for most teams. It offers a broader feature set, a pricing model that charges only for active users rather than your entire workspace, built-in gift cards, peer recognition, an AI Assistant, and eight years of proven reliability across 40,000+ companies. Billy, part of the BuddiesHR suite, handles birthday and anniversary automation cleanly but stops well short of what growing teams need.
This comparison looks at both tools: what they do well, where they differ on pricing and features, and which one makes more sense for your team’s size and long-term plans.
Key takeaways
The numbers at a glance
Swipe to compare
| BirthdayBot | Billy | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Per active user — people with tracked dates only | Per employee, across the whole workspace |
| Cost per team of 100 | $62/month (Standard, annual) | $100/month (annual) |
| Feature set | Birthdays, work anniversaries, custom celebrations, gift cards, Kudos, AI Assistant, Web App, multi-style & multilingual content, channel-based settings, white-label use | Birthdays and anniversaries — stops there |
| Track record | 40,000+ companies since 2018 | 1,000+ customers |
At a glance
BirthdayBot vs Billy, side by side
Swipe to compare
| BirthdayBot Best for most teams | Billy BuddiesHR | |
|---|---|---|
| Launched | 2018 | Newer entrant |
| Customers | 40,000+ companies | 1,000+ customers |
| Pricing model | Per active user | Per employee (whole workspace) |
| Free plan | 15 celebrations / year | Teams under 10 |
| Birthday automation | Yes | Yes |
| Work anniversaries | Yes (Standard+) | Yes |
| Custom celebrations | Yes | No |
| Gift cards | Yes | No |
| Kudos / peer recognition | Yes | No |
| AI Assistant | Yes | No |
| Web App dashboard | Yes | No |
| Content in 3 styles | Yes | No |
| Multilingual content | Yes (Standard+) | No |
| New hire celebrations | Yes (Standard+) | No |
| Import of dates | Any of 5 available methods | 2 available methods |
| Special pricing for large teams & non-profits | Yes | No |
Pricing
Why the model matters more than the headline number
BirthdayBot — per active user
You pay only for members whose birthday or anniversary is actually tracked and announced. Celebrating a 20-person department inside a large Slack workspace? Pay for 20. Someone leaves? They’re removed automatically.
Billy — per employee
$1/employee/month, billed annually, across your entire workspace. 150 people but only 120 have submitted dates? You still pay for all 150.
Cost comparison
Pick your team size
BirthdayBot Standard
$62 /mo
Billy
$100 /mo
‼ You save 38% — that’s $456 /year back vs. Billy at this size (annual billing).
BirthdayBot runs 36–46% cheaper than Billy at equivalent team sizes — and the gap widens once active-user pricing kicks in during real rollouts.
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What our customers say
What made teams choose to stay
Priya trialed both tools at 60 people. Billy quoted $60/mo across the workspace; BirthdayBot billed her 54 active users — and shipped anniversaries, gift cards, and multilingual cards the alternatives couldn’t touch. A year on, her team hit 88, still on the same Standard tier.
Honestly, pricing got us in the door
Honestly, pricing got us in the door — but it’s the everything-else that made us stay. Our folks are spread across five time zones, and birthdays now land at a decent local hour instead of 3am. The gift cards took the awkward ‘what do we even send?’ scramble off my plate, and Kudos turned recognition into a weekly habit instead of a birthday-only thing.
Priya
Head of People at a Software company
Feature depth
Where “basic” creates real gaps
Both tools automate birthday messages and anniversaries, import dates, and handle weekends. That’s where the parity ends.
Gift cards
Birthday and Anytime Gift Cards, redeemable across 350+ brands in 60+ countries — recognition that scales globally without logistics. Billy has no gifting feature.
Kudos & peer recognition
Schedule weekly or monthly shout-out prompts in Slack. Teammates send public or private recognition that builds into a personal collection. Billy has no recognition layer.
AI Assistant
Add birthdays, change settings, and manage the bot in plain language. ‘Add my birthday for October 14’ or ‘Switch our channel to #celebrations’ just work — no menus. Billy has none.
Web App dashboard
A calendar view of upcoming celebrations, import flow, and gift card management outside Slack — bulk setup gets far faster for teams of 50+. Billy is Slack-only.
Multilingual & multi-style content
Content in multiple languages plus Mild, Fizzy, and Spicy card packs — tone that fits the region or channel. Billy offers GIF templates but no multilingual layer.
New hire & per-channel timezones
Welcome new members from day one, and (on Pro) set separate timezones per channel so London and New York each post at a sensible local hour. Billy surfaces neither.
What Billy does well within its scope
Billy handles birthday and work anniversary automation cleanly. The opt-out for employees who’d rather not share is a thoughtful touch, and GIFs land well for casual teams. As part of the BuddiesHR suite, six lightweight culture apps come under one $2/employee subscription. For a team under 10 that wants something free covering birthdays only, Billy’s free tier is serviceable. But for teams that need gift cards, peer recognition, multilingual content, or admin tooling beyond a Slack channel, Billy runs out of road quickly.
The verdict
BirthdayBot vs Billy
Billy is a clean birthday bot. For the simplest use case at a very small team, it does the job. BirthdayBot is built for teams that want to do more — more occasions, channels, languages, and reward options, more admin control, and a pricing model that charges fairly for the people actually being celebrated. The outcome is clear at nearly every team size. If you want the best Slack birthday bot that grows with your team, BirthdayBot is the stronger choice.
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FAQ
Questions teams ask before choosing BirthdayBot
Everything you need to know about setup, pricing, customization, gift cards, and how BirthdayBot works in Slack.
Is BirthdayBot cheaper than Billy?
Yes, in most cases. BirthdayBot Standard runs $62/month for up to 100 active users (annual billing). Billy charges $1/employee/month for the whole workspace, which comes to $100/month for 100 employees. The gap grows at larger team sizes, and BirthdayBot’s active-user model means you’re never billed for people who haven’t submitted their dates.
Does Billy have gift cards?
No. Billy does not include a gifting feature. BirthdayBot supports both birthday gift cards and Anytime Gift Cards, redeemable across 350+ brands in 60+ countries.
Does Billy have peer recognition or a Kudos feature?
No. Billy handles birthday and work anniversary automation; peer recognition is not part of its feature set. BirthdayBot’s Kudos feature lets teammates send weekly or monthly shout-outs using templates, publicly or privately, directly inside Slack.
How long has BirthdayBot been around?
BirthdayBot launched in 2018 and currently serves 40,000+ companies worldwide. Over eight years it has shipped the Web App, AI Assistant, Kudos, Anytime Gift Cards, Custom Celebrations, and multilingual content packs.
Can I use BirthdayBot for free?
Yes. BirthdayBot’s free plan supports birthday celebrations, gift cards, one custom celebration, basic content packs, and limited Kudos, with no time limit. Standard and Pro unlock work anniversaries, new hire celebrations, unlimited Kudos, multilingual content, and more.
What does “active user” mean in BirthdayBot pricing?
An active user is a workspace member whose birthday, work anniversary, or both are known and being announced by BirthdayBot. Someone who hasn’t submitted their date doesn’t count toward billing, and when a member leaves and their Slack account is deactivated, BirthdayBot removes them automatically.
What is the best birthday bot for Slack?
BirthdayBot is the best birthday bot for Slack for most teams. It is the most downloaded birthday bot in the Slack App Directory, used by 40,000+ companies, and goes well beyond reminders to include anniversaries, gift cards, Kudos, new hire celebrations, Custom Celebrations, an AI Assistant, and a Web App dashboard. For teams under 10 that only need basic reminders, Billy’s free tier is also a reasonable start.